GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team closed the 2023 regular season Saturday afternoon by splitting a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader with visiting Chatham (19-18, 10-10 PAC) at Jack Behringer Field. Grove City (29-9, 16-4 PAC) won the Senior Day opener in seven innings, 13-3, while Chatham took the nightcap, 9-5. 

Grove City's Game One win represented the Wolverines' 29th victory of the season, which is the most in program history. Grove City won 28 games in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Senior pitcher Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) fired 6 2/3 shutout innings in the opener to earn the win. Ostrowski (9-1) struck out 11 men, giving him a program-record 102 strikeouts this season. He set the previous record of 93 strikeouts last season. 

Offensively, Grove City took advantage of 10 Chatham walks in the opener. The Wolverines scored five runs in the bottom of the first with only one hit, a run-scoring single from junior first baseman Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian).

Freshman center fielder Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) opened the scoring by driving in sophomore shortstop Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) with a sacrifice fly. Sophomore DH Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) walked with the bases loaded, forcing in sophomore right fielder Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) while senior catcher C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) later scored when junior second baseman Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) hit into a fielder's choice. Williams scored the fifth run on a balk. 

Grove City added five more runs in the second inning. Sophomore third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) led off with a home run while Williams doubled in Minnich. Cato's two-run single plated Saylor and Williams. Cato gave Grove City a 10-0 lead when he came home on a single from freshman left fielder Andrew Seest (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins). 

In the third, Kilbane singled in Sampson while Cato's sacrifice fly brought home Kilbane. Vittone scored on a double play in the fourth.

Kilbane finished 2 for 3 while Sampson went 2 for 4. Williams went 2 for 2 and also walked twice. Vittone added a double.

Senior pitcher Noah Cyphert (Kittanning, Pa./Armstrong) closed out the win in the seventh inning. 

Grove City loaded the bases on three walks with one out in the bottom of the night inning in Game Two but could not rally for the win. The Wolverines finished with only five hits in Game Two. 

The Wolverines jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, however, as Minnich doubled in Vittone and Kilbane scored on a Saylor groundout. Chatham surged ahead in the second inning, 4-2, but Grove City tied the game with single runs in the second and third innings. 

Kilbane's bases-loaded hit batsman forced home Tambellini in the second inning. Saylor belted a game-tying solo homer in the third inning. Grove City cut Chatham's lead to 8-5 in the seventh inning when Kilbane singled home Tambellini.

Sophomore pitcher Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) pitched 5 2/3 innings of relief for the Wolverines. Umland struck out three while allowing one run and four hits. Sophomore David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) started and struck out six men in 3 1/3 innings. Leslie (6-3) took the setback.

Saturday marked the final home game for Cyphert, Ostrowski, Saylor, Tambellini and relief pitcher Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic). 

Grove City will be the No. 2 seed in next week's four-team, double-elimination conference tournament. The Wolverines will face No. 3 Saint Vincent at 4 p.m. Thursday at Washington & Jefferson's Ross Memorial Park. Top-seeded W&J will host No. 4 Westminster in Thursday's first game at 1 p.m.